


it's running you with red

by TrulyCertain



Series: Shield Raised [10]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Only shippy if you squint, Red Templar AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 13:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20621678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrulyCertain/pseuds/TrulyCertain
Summary: They’re wading through a red templar camp, leaving a trail of blood and red lyrium behind them, and they’re down to the last three. There must be ten lying in their wake. Dorian’s just ducking daggers, considering how long it’ll take to wash the blood off his boots, when he sees something out of the corner of his eye.It’s a momentary distraction, nothing more, but - on the edge of the field, one of them is slowing as his comrades are killed, backing away from the fight, his shield lowering. It’s almost a surrender.In a world where Trevelyan never escaped the grasp of the Chantry, he and Dorian meet very differently.





	it's running you with red

They’re wading through a red templar camp, leaving a trail of blood and red lyrium behind them, and they’re down to the last three. There must be ten lying in their wake. Dorian’s just ducking daggers, considering how long it’ll take to wash the blood off his boots, when he sees something out of the corner of his eye.

It’s a momentary distraction, nothing more, but - on the edge of the field, one of them is slowing as his comrades are killed, backing away from the fight, his shield lowering. It’s almost a surrender.

Dorian shakes himself, narrowly dodging a templar’s slashing blade, freezing his attacker with barely a blink and an exhale. There is a roar, and then Cassandra smashes the rogue into small, bloodied pieces. Dorian spares that a glance - Not so graceful now, are you? he thinks viciously - before he picks his way across the fight to where he saw those bowed, quiet movements. He dodges shields and elbows as he goes; the others are sometimes too focused on finishing the fight and getting out of this mess to watch the flailing limbs.

And then he’s standing before that solitary red templar, who isn’t backing away or moving to attack. 

The man - for this was a man, even if it was some time ago - looks back, unblinking. Under the helmet, he’s unshaven, dark stubble on his cheeks and on his neck, until it’s covered by the red lyrium crawling up to his jaw. (Dorian remembers finding out how the stuff was grown. Swallowing his revulsion, trying to make a quip to the Inquisitor before the horror overwhelmed him.) Beneath short, roughly cut hair, the templar’s eyes glow with that strange redness, but underneath, Dorian thinks they might have been blue, once. His breath is audible, rattling - the lyrium is probably in his lungs.

“Well,” Dorian says, slightly unsteadily.

The templar places his shield on the ground, sheathes his sword. “Finish it.” And then he’s on his knees, looking up at Dorian expectantly.

Dorian finds himself backing away. “I - “

The templar grits his teeth. “Just tell them not to take the Kirkwall shipments. If there are any of us in your Inquisition, tell them.” His voice is hoarse, that strange lyrium-echo to it, but Dorian knows the elocution of a noble far too well. A minor family, perhaps. Someone will miss him.

The moments pass. Dorian stands, speechless, useless, before he manages, “Is that what you did?”

Dorian catches the templar’s low words. “We didn’t know.” The templar raises his head, baring that lyrium-infested throat, and waits.

Dorian still doesn’t move, held still by those words. He wonders if the man’s in pain.

“Finish it!” It’s a half-human shout. Those eyes keep watching Dorian, and yes, definitely blue. They would have been very blue.

If there’s one thing Dorian understands, it’s clinging onto your pride, a plea disguised as an order. A universal amongst broken men. And wanting to die as yourself? Yes, that he understands.

He nods, crossing the space between them.

Finish it.

So he raises a hand, puts the man to sleep, and does.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in 2026. (I think this was the third thing I ever wrote with Gal. I wrote their canon first meeting, and then... this.) Because apparently a particular screencap, combined with a line in a Bon Iver song and that templar in Suledin Keep, made me think of terrible, terrible things. AU! Definitely AU!


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